Search This Blog

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Sign Language: Innglishh 4 Dummeez

In this edition of Sign Language, AYTD takes a look at how a literary disease is infecting the third most spoken language on the planet. Interestingly enough though, this illness seizes upon the visual dimension; the text in which English is utilized, rather than its sound. Slowly, more and more companies are setting up shop and deliberately tamper with the spelling of real words to spawn a new one. Whilst the new word is cosmetically different, its definition remains unchanged. Much like the emergence of txtspeak, logos highlight words with perhaps a letter missing or exchanged for another one, some go further and even use a numerical digit as an unnecessary replacement. The practice of conjuring up trade names to help advertise a product is far from a new technique; notable examples include the pharmaceuticals (Viagra, Prozac, Xanax, etc.) and the automotive industries (Mondeo, Impreza, Cee'd, etc.) but its the exchanging of correct for incorrect wordage that is a real cause for concern.